Ethiopia’s Beyenu Degefa produced a masterclass on Day 2 of the ongoing World Juniors in Bydgoszcz, Poland, destroying the field in women’s 3000m as she powered to a new Championship Record (CR) of 8:41.76.
The race was so fast that the top three finishers all ran National under-20 records for their countries, with Degefa on her part erasing a record that has stood since 1992.
Bahrain’s Dalila Abdulkadir won Silver with a time of 8:46.42 as Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen took the Bronze crossing the line in 8:46.74.
In the women’s 800m semi-finals, heat 2 was so captivating that the fight for 2nd place produced a thrilling finale. Bahrain’s Marta Hiparto secured the win in 2:05.09, and the next three finishers after her appeared to have dipped in at the same time as they aimed to get the last qualification spot.
However it was Germany’s Mareen Kalis who was 2nd in 2:05.45, after pushing up more in the last 30m to pip Cuba’s Arletis Thaureaux who despite running a PB of 2:05.47 missed out qualifying for the final.
Heat 3 could have gone either way as it was anybody’s race up to the last 120m, but Samantha Watson & Victoria Tachinski both steered clear of the chasing pack, take 1st & 2nd positions clocking 2:04.50 & 2:04.55 respectively.
While in heat 1 Tigist Ketema relinquished her lead to Aaliyah Miller who won in 2:04.36. The Ethiopian however did enough to finish 2nd in 2:05.13 and qualify for the final.
